Disguising an SVS

I am currently negotiating with my decor-conscious wife about whether I can put an Ultra in my great room in place of my Velo HGS-10, which is only 11" on all sides. Her initial response was "You think I am going to let you put a #@%&#*# ugly 3 1/2 foot black tower in my room!
Just to get her to acquiesce to one Ultra, I had to buy her a fridge for the garage, an under-cabinet TV in the kitchen, a wood floor in my den, and a vacation in Santa Fe. Plus she is making me give up my beloved recliner for a loveseat. I also had to promise her a vacation in Santa Fe next year. At the rate I'm going, this is going to cost me about $2,000 for each additional decibel I plan on getting from the Ultra.
Now, to make matters worse, TV tells me I really need two Ultras because of the size of my listening area (approximately 9-10,000 cubic feet). The odds of getting a second one don't look all that good at this point. By the time I get done buying her off, I won't be able to afford it.
It strikes me that others may have fought the good fight with the great God of decor as I am curently doing. Does anyone out there have a wife who has come up with an innovative, attractive way to disguise, cover, surround, or otherwise obscure one or two SVS subs? Any ideas? Need help if I am going to get that second one.

Hmmm... Is it possible that there is a different room in the house that may serve as a better HT room from a WAF perspective? Not to mention that any other room would be easier (and thus less expensive) to drive audio-wise at all frequencies.
Just a thought.
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"Today is a good day to die." ...Old Lodge Skins

Good one, Bob!
I actually have thought about this. The S.O. doesn't object but before it arrived I was worried she would. How about just a tailored fabric throw that matches the room decor to put over it? Of course, when it's time to put on a movie you would take it off. The idea springs from those cheap round wood tables people have in their bedrooms with the fabric over them.
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"The last thing I want to remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth." - Del Griffithmy home theater - updated 6/16/01 with SVSubwoofer picsmy DVD collection

On the same topic, does anybody (SVS SUBS HELP ME OUT) know if svs plans on putting the subs in different colors? IE have a maple colored cover, maybe browns, blues, reds, etc. I think they might sell a little more because the wife would be more inclined to let the man of the house have a sub that isn't another black speaker in the room!
Just a thought
Rhett

I almost bought a completely different sub which isn't as good and cost a lot more simply because it looked better. (It was made of wood. It was down-firing but not ported on the top so you can put stuff on top.) I'm my own wife.
I've been also thinking about how to disguise it but so far I haven't figured it out.

Rhett,
I hope to be assembling our first SS sub with an all oak finished enclosure. We spent weeks trying to make a "piano gloss" top and baseplate configuration work (with matching gray, tan or black fabric) and could NOT get the quality we were looking for. That's 6 weeks of my life I'll never get back.
So instead (much better but much more expensive too)we're going to likely be using various real wood finishes. Wait for the pics in the next few weeks when we start preorders but I can tell you it'll be amazing. EXPENSIVE but amazing.
At the moment we're planning, light oak, a kind of black ash/oak, weathered gray maple or oak and a dark cherry (which will likely be maple actually, stained cherry). No vinyl, this is sheet hardwood, cold laminated onto our custom drawn cylinders.
Given we're talking painstakigly laminated cylinders, and 1" CNC'd hardwood (no particle board cores) you can bet the SS will (finally!) be released to a hushed audience.
We've delayed and delayed the SS because it will be our flagship for some time. We're within a few weeks of going final we hope.
IF (big if) we can get the prices down of the lamination process and machined pieces we might be able to offer the wood finished enclosures on our CS/PC lines or even the CS Ultra but I susect this will be done on a custom basis and be fairly costly even on the less expensive lines. Lots of hand labor involved. These are not mass produced boxes after all. If the wood finishes work as well as we expect we'll also be exloring sheet laminates of various other colors as an alternative to fabric covers. 99 of 100 folks love the looks (which virually dissapear) in their HT corners, but we're after that 1% too.
Ron[Edited last by Ron Stimpson on July 28, 2001 at 10:31 AM]

I remember this conversation with my decorator (at the time I had big, old black Paradigms on stands and a Hsu TN1225HO sub, which looks like an SVS):
Me: "What can we do to make the speakers less...obvious?"
Her: "Well, I would recommend that we don't have these big speakers...maybe just use the TV for sound?"
Me: "Don't take this personally, but you can either decorate around those speakers or not decorate at all."
Her: "Ummm, OK. Can we push them next to the sides of the entertainment center?" (8ft apart to 4 ft apart)
Me: "No."
Her: "How about a little closer together?"
Me: "No."
Her: "Why?"
Me: "I've spent more time placing those speakers in those spots than you'll spend decorating this whole place."
Her reaction to my new Sonus Faber Grand Pianos - "Well, if you have to have speakers, I guess those look pretty nice."
A shining endorsement for the attractiveness of Sonus speakers if I've ever heard one.
Anyway, she was completely repulsed by my Hsu TN1225HO sub, so she bought one of those designer wood screens for the corner. If you have the sub in a corner, it will just fold around near it, yet still leave plenty of air around the sides for one (or even two) SVS footprints. Plus, unless SVS comes out with a new model like a 16-84, then the sub won't be too tall.
I didn't really notice a difference with or without the screen(of course I have a cathedral 18ft ceiling), and it sure looked a heck of a lot better. The decorator was satiated, and I was actually pleased to hide the Hsu with little to no audio effect. YMMV.

Heck, be brave and do it like I did last week: just show up with a 46" sub on your shoulder and walk in with the same nonchalance that you'd show when bringing in a loaf of bread. The doctors got the bullet out and they say with a lot of physical therapy I may be able to walk again someday.
Jerry
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Quote:
But she did get the house. I would call it even.
End Quote:
Yeah but you got your home theater!!!!!
Ouch...
I would love to see a differnet color fabric cover an svs sub now. I am waiting for the SS series and price to make my final purchase. Hopefully they won't break the bank and colors you guys have picked have me drooling, especially the grey maple!
Thanks
Rhett

gordon, feel like a little DIY?
see if you could do an infinate baffel (IB) sub in that room. IMO no other sub system can match its performance potential, or its very high SAF. (theres no enclosure in the room!!)
heres mine:http://home.tampabay.rr.com/kraushome/IB.html
good luck!
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'Till next time,
Rich (the kite guy)

Just thought I'd chime in to say I brought this up with Tom(SVS) a few months ago and he didn't think it would be too difficult to make a different colored sock for an SVS (using similar material). Let her pick out the color and make it then just throw it over the top.
It shouldn't negatively impact permormance too much. I'm going to wait until the SO see's an SVS in person before I even suggest it though. Maybe she won't notice an SVS in the room.

Way to funny!!!
First, never get married! Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free!!!
2nd, buy a house and keep it in your name, and your name alone!
3rd, live in a state with no alimony or get a pre-nup!...
But I digress….
This is why I spent many of months re-modeling a 3rd floor attic space into an HT room! Locked, alarmed and away from it all!!!
LOL!!!
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-Mark
**** Digital Vortex ****
The Digital Electronic Sitewww.digitalvortex.com

Gordon, you're just gonna have to let the little woman know who wears the pants in the family and do what Jerry says and stroll in with the new subs. Of course after that there may be a certain pair of pants you will never get into again but with all that bass you will be too busy for marital activities anyway!
Best of luck
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Oooh. Lots of tough talk from guys who probably have their gear buried in a basement media room their wife doesn't have to look at all the time. My gear is a great room (i.e. combination living and family room) that is visible throughout the house except from the bedrooms and bathrooms.
Showed this thread to my wife who responded as below.
1) Carrying one in on my shoulder -- "You have a VA disability on one shoulder and 3 surgeries on the other. You couldn't get one on your shoulder if your life depended on it.
2) Fabric throw -- It would look like you are trying to hide something.
3) Putting it in another room -- I told you we should have built a bigger house.
4)Divorce -- You couldn't afford it.
5) Screen -- I've already thought of that, but you're going to put it in a place where a screen will have to cover all 4 sides (I can't put it in a corner because of a resonating wall)
As to the other possibilities mentioned -- waiting for a wood veneer SVS and the IB sub in a ceiling or a wall, both have problems. Ron's description of the expense involved in veneering a round sub probably means veneer is way out of my price range. Rich's IB idea has some merit, but I don't have a wall available to mount it on. And you can't really get into the attic area because of the cathedral ceiling. I had to hire a buddy's skinny teen-age kid to string my speaker wire because you have to slither through the attic like a snake. I don't think I could get an IB in there.
In any event, it looks like I am going to get my Ultra package anyway. I took her out today and bought her all new leather furniture for the great room. In return I get the Ultra package (although I will have to start with just one because of the cost of the furniture) and I get to keep my recliner. She also promised not to nag me about how ungly the SVSes are. On that last promise, I know better. She is going to give me a jab every chance she gets, so keep those ideas coming.

Gordon,
"Ugly", oohh, that HURTS. My guess is, depending on your decor, the little Mrs. might actually have to admit it's alot less ugly than she thought! ;^)
Of course since she's obviously astute enough to rightly advise that NONE of us can AFFORD to get divorced, well she's no dummy. Still, I think we've had one sub returned because of SAF in the looks department. One or two who's spouse declared they "can't afford it after all", and a few "wow, WAY more sub than I (he) really need(s)" now and again... but looks seem to be one of our biggest attractions for many.
The single CS-Ultra should bring such a grin to your face that she'll be loath to intrude much after that. Shure hope she doesn't drive a bargain this hard on EVERYTHING around your house.
This time I think she'll declare it money well spent. If not, there's always the 45 day return policy!
Ron

Well actually my wife said ....
"Either it goes or I go!!"
I said don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!
Needless to say she got half of everything but I got the SVS!!!!!
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J/K Actually my wife was very cool about it. She didn't like it much when it was out in the open but once we rearranged the FR it ended up buried behind the A/V rack so you really can't even see it.
Its always nice to have a good wife!!!
Greg

To be clear, I didn't mean to sound tough, just brave. And stupid. I don't have a dedicated HT either. My setup is in our equivalent of a great room, a 30' x 24' sunroom.
Seriously, my wife knew I was getting a new sub; she just wasn't prepared for the size of it. The Sunfire was tucked invisibly in a corner. Quite naturally the SVS ain't invisible.
Gordon, your M.O. won't work with my wife. She's the ultimate in frugality and I have a terrible time getting her to spend money on herself. Glad it works for you. Enjoy the leather.[Edited last by JerryHatchett on July 28, 2001 at 10:54 PM]